Revit or 3ds Max for architectural visualization?

[farzad_moshiri]

Hi guys.

I'm an architect and a user of 3ds Max and render my works with VRay.

Recently I've heard about " REVIT ARCHITECTURE " which is decent for architectural visualization.

Has anyone utilized both softwares regarding this purpose, or does anyone have comprehensive information about the issue?

Do I had better learn Revit and change my software?

I'll be quite grateful if anyone helps me...

Thanks in advance

[Matt McDonald]

If you're an architect, you might as well start learning Revit because it's coming.

 

As far as rendering goes, the rendering capabilities of Revit don't really come close to V-Ray or Mental Ray for Max.

[COLNAGOBOY]

Revit Architecture is equipped with a compact version of Mental Ray.

[Jonathan Sanchez]

If you are an architect and will develop construction documents from your models, then definitely learn Revit. If you are just looking to model for visualization purposes, 3ds and Sketchup are far more streamlined and simpler for that purpose.

[dande]

Revit has a very cut down version of mental ray. You can get decent renders out of it but you don't have the control over your render settings as Max.

[RevitGary]

I do my modeling in Revit and my rendering in 3Ds Max.

I think it is the easiest way to develop architectural models

[Scott Schroeder]

It depends. Revit exporting to Max is okay and the models are okay, but the absolute hard edges from Revit are a problem when you want to get those great looking photo-real images. Plus, Revit models in Max are among the most bloated forms of geometry you can put into Max. All of that BIM information has to go somewhere and you get more faces in Max that you really need. If any client ever wants me to use a Revit model (or SketchUp) I'll use it for pre-viz only then remodel it in Max. I can model faster and much more efficiently in Max, plus the models are ready if I need to UVW unwrap them or take them into Sculptris (ZBrush) to add detail. That's just my workflow. I had too many problems with client provided Revit or SketchUp models. Even if I can do the exporting myself. The Revit translation to Max geometry is just way too inefficient and can (and will) cause render issues down the line when you least expect it.

 

Revit includes the body only version of Mental Ray. Think if you bought a sports car that had no engine, or a lawn mower engine in it.

 

As others have said, if you are going to develop architectural drawings or construction documents, then learning Revit Architectural, Revit MEP, and Revit Structure is a good idea. If you are purely in visualization, keep learning Max and Mental Ray Or Vray. Just be familiar with importing FBX's or other file formats from Revit and learning the quirks of Revit models in Max.

[farzad_moshiri]

Thanks alot guys.

I found all of the replies quite helpful and beneficial to me.

[ihabkal]

It depends. Revit exporting to Max is okay and the models are okay, but the absolute hard edges from Revit are a problem when you want to get those great looking photo-real images. Plus, Revit models in Max are among the most bloated forms of geometry you can put into Max. All of that BIM information has to go somewhere and you get more faces in Max that you really need. If any client ever wants me to use a Revit model (or SketchUp) I'll use it for pre-viz only then remodel it in Max. I can model faster and much more efficiently in Max, plus the models are ready if I need to UVW unwrap them or take them into Sculptris (ZBrush) to add detail. That's just my workflow. I had too many problems with client provided Revit or SketchUp models. Even if I can do the exporting myself. The Revit translation to Max geometry is just way too inefficient and can (and will) cause render issues down the line when you least expect it.

 

Revit includes the body only version of Mental Ray. Think if you bought a sports car that had no engine, or a lawn mower engine in it.

 

As others have said, if you are going to develop architectural drawings or construction documents, then learning Revit Architectural, Revit MEP, and Revit Structure is a good idea. If you are purely in visualization, keep learning Max and Mental Ray Or Vray. Just be familiar with importing FBX's or other file formats from Revit and learning the quirks of Revit models in Max.

 

couldn't have said it better. I got a revit model once, complete with airconditionning, the whole model could've been mad ein max in with less than 2MB, from revit it was 200MB.

[hockley91]

The rendering capabilities in Revit are horrible. I would not render in that environment for stills or animations. The quality is different than 3DS Max and it takes 10 times longer it seems to spit out the same shot in 3DS Max.

 

Unfortunately, some Revit users now think they are 3D visualization specialists as well. All of us know pretty well the in's and out's of the software and it takes years to really get a grasp of what we do for our images and animations. This issue becomes problematic when you are required to split up the renderings within a team.

 

There was a presentation and I did some exterior and interior shots in 3DS Max. The others rendered theirs in Revit. The final result was a Collage of imagery that when presented together just looked bad. There was no uniformity in the final renderings. It was learning experience of course for all of us.

 

One major plus for Revit though is now I can apply my textures to the Revit model and see it before I export to .fbx. Before Revit 2011, it was horrible to set all that up. Plus, the models come in much more smoothly when importing or linking. I also like that I can link by material with the .fbx file linking.